Owner	Pose
Dick Grayson	Dick has been trying to figure out the best way to tell Steph about Essix. It's a bit of a strange situation, but so far the alien seems sincere in her wish to help people, and she already knew that Nightwing was Dick Grayson, so keeping her close was probably the best way to avoid any accidental slips. Still, it's a bit awkward to tell your fiancee that you want to let an alien sleep in the basement, as it were. Still, the sooner done the better, like ripping off a band-aid.     While Steph is out on an errand/class/etc, Dick has Essix bring her bucket up and explains that she would be meeting his fiancee. No mention is made of the fact that Steph is also one of the Bats, because that is her secret to share or not. So for the moment, he's sitting on the sofa awaiting her return. He's still mentally trying to figure out the logistics of the whole thing, but no doubt things will work out in the end. He's the optimist of the group for a reason, after all.
Essix	Uncertain what her bucket has to do with meeting the woman Dick will marry, Essix does as instructed and carries it with her. In fact even as she is standing there in her human form, with her imperfect face, she is holding the bucket by the handle. "You seem worried, Mr Grayson, are you worried?" She asks, tilting her head slightly as she observed the man on the couch fighting an internal battle for the search for words. "Should I wear something different?" she then asks, wondering if she needs to be in something different, though jeans and a button down are common enough. "Different hair? Anything I can do to assist, please let me know."
Stephanie Brown	Some errands are more important than others. Some are just things that you'd like to get done, but they can wait a few days. Perhaps even get pushed back for weeks on end, and never gotten to. But then some are important. Key. Critical errands. Stephanie returns from one of the latter. The Compact pulls up into the garage, the little purple vehicle stopping there and Stephanie climbing out. Instead of going inside, Stephanie stops first at Hazelduck's little house that Dick had built her. It's gotten gradually more elaborate with each little addition added on. She scoops up the duck who steps out to greet her, and carries the avian inside with her. "I've got it!" Stephanie says triumphantly, and then puts a little duck-sized sombrero on the duck, fitting a little strap under her head to keep it on. "I mean it's a little late for Cinco de Mayo, but mom did her best to get it done," she says as she holds the duck up before her. "Oh, hi!" Stephanie offers Essix as she realizes someone else is there. She grins and sets Hazelduck down on the ground to look all fabulous in her new hat.
Dick Grayson	Dick considers the duck sombrero with a grin, simply saying "Perfect. She's all set for next year, at least." He watches the duck for just a moment, noting that she doesn't seem at all bothered by the hat. With a little shake of his head, he turns matters to the situation at hand.     "Steph, this is Essix. You remember the little gang war we broke up? It turns out that she accidentally caused it while trying to help. She kind of stowed away in my gear so she could find someone to help her with her goal of being a hero." He pauses, adding, "That does mean that she knows that I'm Nightwing, so I'm inclined to train her. She doesn't know any of the other Bats, of course."     "Ok, that's where we stand at the moment. What do you think of the situation?"
Essix	In the months that Essix has wandered the cities of New York, Gotham and Metropolis, she had in fact seen numerous people dressing their animals. She still lacked the understanding of /why/ they did it, but she had seen dogs and cats in numerous outfits. A duck in a sombrero however, that was new, so that is where her attention went first. It was perfectly sized for the water fowl's head, and the feathered friend didn't seem to mind it at all. Ripping her attention off the duck to look at Stephanie, she offer a small wave with the hand not holding her bucket and lets Dick talk while she keeps a bright and cheerful smile on her face. "I am completely clueless regarding any bats other than the kind that fly around at night," she offers cheerfully before extending her hand to offer a shake, that is how humans greet one another after all. "I do however know the importance of maintaining secrets, Mr. Grayson has made it exceedingly clear to me."
Stephanie Brown	If Stephanie had been asked to give some ideas what the topic of conversation was going to be with the guest, no amount of time would have probably allowed her to guess it right. Or anywhere close to right. "Stowed away in your gear? And you didn't... notice a woman in your... gear?" she asks, though it's delivered with just a few humorous notes in her tone. She looks back over to Essix. "Hello, nice to meet you," she says, and maybe looking a little perplexed as that all sinks in. "What Dick does is dangerous. If people found out about him, it would put him at risk, and everyone around him. So as long as you're willing to keep that confidence," she agrees, her eyes going to Dick in a way that express confidence in his judgement on the matter. She shakes Essix's hand back to greet her.
Dick Grayson	"Essix, it's probably easier to show her than try to explain it. Could you just pop into your bucket for a moment? You can come right back out, but the process will clear things up" He looks over to Steph again and adds, "Apparently she is an alien, so much of Earth culture is new to her. She seems to be doing pretty well, but I'm sure we'll run into the odd problem here and there."     "She's got some decent instincts for this kind of thing, but she needs more polish actually carrying out her ideas, thus the gang war. She was trying to learn how the gangs react to things, and didn't realize they'd blame each other and start fighting."
Essix	Her hand shake is a little on the wet fish side, but the huge smile remains on Essix's face. She sounds entirely too chipper as she responds to Stephanie. "Mr. Grayson's life is very important, not merely to me, but to many others. The secret of what he does for this city, for the world must remain unknown." Serious topic... chipper alien. With Dick's request, she bounces a little on the balls of her feet and sets the tiny bucket on the coffee table, really it look more like a ice bucket. "This will only take a moment," she then says and even as she is speaking, her hand lifts the lid off the bucket. Aiming her other hand at the inside of the bucket her entire body changes, shimmering into an aqua colored human form before flowing into the bucket and shrinking down in the process. In the end, the lid is set on top by a tendril and slips inside... there might have been a giggle in there, right before the lid closed. A total of fifteen seconds is all the long it took for the dark haired female to become a viscous liquid in the bucket, and then the liquid is flowing back out to form a human again. This time however, when the human form is complete (still with a face only a mother could love) she is wearing the same jeans, but her shirt matches Stephanie's perfectly. "See? I... snuck home in one of his pouches," she admits a bit sheepish but there is still an over excitement right behind in her tone. "That is why he explain secret identity to me. I cannot, /will not/, tell his secret, or any other heroes."
Stephanie Brown	Stephanie Brown often doesn't manage to filter her inner monologue, but her quip about Essix being handy at cocktail parties upon viewing the small bucket, dies before it makes it out as she watches the woman turn into water, or at least, liquid, and flow into the bucket. "Well that... was unexpected," she says, eyes widening a bit until Essix comes back out again. She glances at Essix and then down to her own shirt. It's from a breakfast joint near Gotham U's campus, the Munch Box. "So can you do that with faces too, or just clothing?" she asks of the emulation. Stephanie glances over to Dick. It just takes the one look for him to know she's ok with things, trusting that he's doing the best with the situation he can.
Dick Grayson	"I was thinking she could keep her bucket down in the cave annex below us. That way she has a place to live while we work things out. Maybe once she's a little more settled and we see how things are going, we can move her into the manor or rent her an apartment.. I suppose a studio apartment would do, given how she sleeps in a bucket. You don't need a ton of room for that, after all."     "Once the training is going along and we all know each other better, I'll approach the other members of the family and see what they think about adding another to the roster. Never hurts to have some more help trying to keep things civilized out there. Lord knows the gangs and villains are numerous enough. Sometimes I get to feeling like Leonidas in 300. The small group fighting an army thing, not the kicking people into pits thing."
Essix	Smoothing the shirt like it isn't a part of her, Essix actually frowns slightly. "I am having difficulties with human faces," she admits bluntly. "But I can mimic everything else, to a degree that I am undetectable as anything more than that object or animal." She glances to Dick for moment, hearing every word he says but not understanding all of it, but then again that was pretty much how many things went for her. English was a language that used the same words to mean different things, on top of which difficult cultures used words differently, and how any of this had to do with 'family' and 'bats' the little alien gave up on guessing. She as more of a facts or nothing sort of being. "There does seem to be more bad people than good ones out there," she states, because that part she totally understood. "I truly want to help solve part of that problem, if I can."
Stephanie Brown	Stephanie Brown is always cautious about revealing too much. As someone who knew things but was cast out by Bruce for a time, Stephanie had kind of made a point of the fact that she wasn't going to be the source of any leaks. Even if she wasn't wanted. Things are different today, but that level of consciousness of her actions remains. "If your crew think it's for the best, whenever," she agrees with Dick as if she isn't part of it beyond knowing how he spends his evenings. She gives a little nod. "Sure, we could do that. Either one," Stephanie says. "Um, I mean you don't have to live in a cave though, just because you might stay in that," Stephanie says, motioning to the bucket. "Is it, special somehow? Like the source of your powers or something?"
Dick Grayson	"Yeah, at the moment I'm the only one she knows, and I intend it to stay that way until we know one another a lot better. It'll be a while before we get to the point of officially making her one of us."     Noting that Essix seemed a little confused while he was talking, he explains "We sometimes refer to ourselves as the Bat family, and the criminals have just kind of shortened that to calling us bats. A typical altercation usually begins with one or more bad guys yelling 'The bats are here' or something to that effect."     He says to Stephanie, "I don't think she really minds where she puts her bucket... maybe resting container would be a nicer sounding way of putting it, right? Anyway I don't think she minds and it's a safe place while also giving us our privacy."
Essix	Essix shakes her head with a soft laugh, "The source of my power? No, no... it is just a bucket with a pretty pattern on outside of it, that had a lid and was cheap on Amazon.com. The lid was imporatnt, I do not like dust and debris falling in me while I regenerate." As she speaks, she picks the bucket back up again so that it's not sitting on their coffee table, it was after all rude to leave her things sitting around. "You are welcome to ask any questions, I have nothing to hide. It is important to share with those I trust, and I trust you both," she adds to Stephanie before looking back to Dick. "Wait... /you/ are the Bats that they all hate to much?" she then asks with absolute surprise in her tone and on her face. "I have heard a great deal of the animosity against you from the criminals of Gotham! I have heard so much in fact that I have often wanted to smack them, but violence begets violence, and it is better to only use violence when it is used again you." She nods curtly, the importance of those words clear to anyone looking at her. "I do not mind being in the cave, or outside, or even on roof. So long as I have the bucket, every thirty-six to forty earth hours, I am fine."
Stephanie Brown	Stephanie Brown looks a little perplexed. "So, um, I'm getting a bit of a vibe you don't quite have the normal kind of attitudes and likes, well that I'd expect. Are you... that is... ah, are you a mutant from somewhere far off? Or otherwise not from around here?" Stephanie says. She seems to be expecting normal human desires for a nice place to live and the like, so probably hasn't made the connection yet as to how Essix truly differs. Hazelduck goes off across the room, feet making an adorable tapping noise which still hasn't managed to get under Stephanie's nerves. Because it's just so cute. "Hazel lives here with us, sometimes inside or outside," she says of the duck. "Probably best if you ring the bell though. We've got a canoe out back you can use if you want to go out on the lake. Or... well I suppose you could probably just go on the lake, in the lake, on your own?"
Dick Grayson	"Very very far, I'd say. She's actually an alien, not from Earth at all. So I'll be doing some lessons on Earth culture as much as fighting and all the things that go into the whole hero gig. We've got a pretty far way to go before she's ready to be on her own, but we'll get there. She's got the right attitude towards the work that needs to be done, so I'm confident that she's going to be ok."     "Yeah, feel free to use the lake and boats if you like. I suppose I should actually say that if you even know what a boat is, you can use them. I'm not sure what you do for relaxation or pleasure other than the time in your bucket. It's another thing we'll address, probably early in the whole process."     He glances over at a clock and says, "It's getting kind of late, and I actually have an appointment in the morning, so if you all don't mind, we'll call things good for now."
Essix	The bright, cheerful smile returns to Essix face as she listens to Dick explaining about herself, the parts he knew at least. There was still so much more she could tell, but she had already learned about something called "Too Much Information" and that when sharing information, not to dump the entire "ton of bricks" at once. "I know a great deal about a great many things," she explains. "Boats, ships, canoes, but not their importance or why they are a thing. There are gaps in my education as most of it has come from either the internet, or watching people." Dick requests that they 'call things good for now', so without another word she simply turns and heads for the entrance to the cave. Privacy requested and prepared to be granted, at least she seemed to get importance of that as well.
Stephanie Brown	Stephanie Brown takes the whole alien thing a lot better than she would have just a few years ago. Not that she'd have freaked out. Just been curious probably. "Wow, that's awesome. I have so many questions for you. How you got here, why you got here. What it's like there. Do you have popsicles, or even freezing weather if you're liquid like that," Stephanie says, just starting in on a few. Come to think of it, she probably reacted much the same as she would have years ago. She nods in agreement with Dick though. "We can talk later," she says. "Um, have a... enjoy your... be good until we see you next," she finally settles on.